Emails are a great way to engage with customers on a regular basis and get information to them without having to count characters or say it all in a photo or illustration. Try these few simple suggestions and hit a grand slam this spring and summer with your email marketing.
Your subject lines are key!
They have to be enticing. You have to think about your target audience and capture their curiosity or their desire for information. Let’s face it, most of us are inundated with emails each day and most of them are what we would deem “junk” or “trash,” so you have to make yours stand out. Every day, I open probably 2-3 of my emails that aren’t from clients for business or personal emails, the rest have to get deleted or I’d spend my whole day reading them. Make the headlines catchy and peak your audience’s curiosity while at the same time making them as personal as possible.
Brands that are using emojis in their subject lines have seen a 56% increase in their unique open rates. - Campaign Monitor.
A recent study from YesWare that analyzed over 100 million emails suggests that email open rates are 1.5% higher when a number is present in the subject line. And we know that including numbers in blog headlines increases clickthrough rates by 206%.
Best practice says that subject lines that are 17-24 characters long are most likely to increase your open rates. - Coschedule
Rich, relevant, informative, entertaining
So, you have to think about what it is that your customers are looking for from you. The content in the email needs to tie to your industry, but it doesn’t have to be specifically about your product or service in order to be opened and useful to your customers. For example, I received an email from my home security system, guess what it was about? It was about keeping my children safe on their summer adventures. Now that is something I am going to open up, and guess what, they cleverly injected some new features they have added to their new system. The content has to be of interest and a need for your clients/customers, so go ahead, use their feedback to help you generate new topics of interest.
Keep it Short Sweetie-Make sure your emails are succinct and provide headings
As I said before, we all have too many emails, so when your customers do engage, we have to get to the point quickly and in as few words as possible. Get them the information with bold catchy and informational headings, so they are getting the gist even if they don’t have time to read the whole email.
Connect with your audience
Emails can be cold and difficult for people to connect with and therefore to care about (and in the future, to even open before sending it to the internet junkyard). By adding warmth, humor, and style to your emails, you can better connect with your customers. If they feel you are personally connecting and sharing a bit of yourself with them, they will be more like to engage with any current content. Share an anecdote, commiserate, be charming; this will make your content not only more enjoyable to read but more difficult to send to the trash pile unread.
Just Cause It’s An Email Doesn’t Mean It Shouldn’t Be Visual
The old school emails that looked like a business letter are out! Just like with all other types of marketing, visuals can really aid in the engagement and enjoyment of your audience. Add in a few pictures to your email, break up content with text boxes and cool graphic lettering and interesting visual touches. It doesn’t have to be complex or time-consuming, just don’t do boring and basic.